


Ex Obumbratio

by JenJo



Category: DCU
Genre: (also for now), (anyone who knows the source material knows where those two end up), (for now) - Freeform, All to come, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe- Shadowhunters, F/F, M/M, Mundane Barbara, Mundane Dick, Shadowhunter Bruce, Shadowhunter Jason, Shadowhunter Kara, Shadowhunter Selina, Vampire Wally, Warlock Roy, liberties taken with the source material, loosely based on the show, no established relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-30
Updated: 2018-05-07
Packaged: 2019-04-30 02:33:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14486895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JenJo/pseuds/JenJo
Summary: DC Shadowhunters AU.Jason thought that he knew his place in the world.Kara never saw love in her future.Barbara thought she was normal.Dick knew that, no matter what, he and Barbara would be there for each other.Wally was perfectly happy in his afterlife.Roy had sworn off of being attached to Shadowhunters a long time ago.Selina thought that she would be able to walk the line between worlds forever.Bruce was sure that the world would never change.They were all very wrong.





	1. Adiciet ut resurgat

The sun cast an almost silver gleam as it sunk below the horizon, as though it was already conceding to the moon’s authority. The streets below were bathed in the silver light, marking the switch from the time of the humans to the time of the  _ other _ .

The downworld was always more active at night, which meant that Jason was  _ also  _ more active at night.

He crouched on the rooftop, looking down below as all manner of being came out of the shadows. His eyes quickly checked each one, looking for threats before they  _ became  _ threats. 

He had also made Kara promise him to not go into fights without him, and he would be a hypocrite if he were to fight without her by his side. Though, if he were honest, the thought of fighting  _ without  _ Kara by his side was almost impossible to imagine. For the past ten years, he and Kara and trained side by side, fought side by side; where one went, the other followed. Jason and Kara, against the world. Against the world, and  _ protecting  _ the world. It was their duty as Shadowhunters that lead them to protect the world; it was their bond as  _ Parabatai  _ that meant they protected the world side by side.

And there was no one Jason would rather have by his side. Kara was formidable on the battlefield; there didn’t seem to be a demon in existence that she was afraid of. Sometimes, she’d even laugh as she fought, never failing to bring a smile to Jason’s face.

Though, for all her good points, there was one habit of hers that Jason wished she’d grow out of already.

“Where are you Kara?” he muttered, his eyes catching on a gathering of demons in the alley below him. While he’d be happy to jump down by himself, he would  _ rather  _ have Kara by his side.  _ Especially since she said she would be here. _

Just as Jason reached into his pocket to check his phone for messages, he saw the demons all turn their heads to the end of the alley.

“Hey there.”

Jason froze; Kara had arrived, and was in the middle of the horde of demons.

_ She will be the death of me one day. _

 

~

 

“Hey there.”

Kara smiled, as she always did when she found herself standing in front of a horde of demons. She couldn’t help it, it was such a natural instinct for her to smile in the moments before a great fight. 

These demons, if she had to guess, were low level, clearly not going to put up much of a fight. And yes, she had promised Jason to meet him, but he was sure to forgive her for getting a  _ little  _ bit sidetracked; besides, she was pretty close to their meeting place.

The demons, unlike her, were not smiling, as far as Kara could tell anyway. They did all turn to her as one though, which was more than a bit disconcerting. She had seen her fair share of demons, but never moving so in sync with each other.

“I don’t suppose you’d be interesting in surrendering?” Kara asked optimistically, pulling a Seraph Blade out of her belt anyway. When the demons began to move closer to her, she shrugged. “Very well then.  _ Malik _ ,” she said, the blade in her hand blazing to life, and thrust the blade into the closest demon. It cried out, before disintegrating.

This did nothing to dissuade the other demons, who continued to advance on Kara. She danced around them, easily dispatching of most of them. 

Unfortunately, she did not have eyes in the back of her head. Thinking that there was only two demons left, she advanced away from the wall at her back. A demon made use of that space, putting an arm around her neck, and pulling her close against its body. 

“Little Shadowhunter thinks she’s special,” it hissed in her ear.

Kara rolled her eyes. “Don’t think it, and  _ please  _ keep your tongue out of my ear. It’s gross.”

“Little Shadowhunter is lucky we need her alive.”

“What-” Kara never got a chance to question the demon; an arrow flew past her face, embedding itself into the demon’s head. The demon disappeared in a flash of light. 

Kara gasped for air, reaching up to touch her neck. Blood came away on her fingers, and she frowned at it. “Ow.”

“Is that all you have to say?”

She looked up; Jason was standing up from a crouch, evidently having jumped off of a rooftop. She smiled wide. “Thought I recognised the arrow.”

“Kara,” Jason frowned, reaching out to look closer at her hand, then her neck. “You’re bleeding.”

“Happened before,” she muttered, but did not object to Jason pulling her closer to him in order to draw an  _ Iratze  _ above the wound. The rune almost instantly disappeared, making quick work of the wound.

“That’s not normal,” Jason observed. “It disappeared almost as soon as I finished it.”

Indeed, Jason had barely taken the stele away from Kara’s neck before she felt the telltale notes of a vanishing rune. 

“And it was a demon who inflicted the cut; the  _ Iratze  _ shouldn’t have healed it.” Kara frowned, before shrugging to herself. “Never mind. You wanted to meet me?”

Jason stared incredulously at Kara. “You’re not at all concerned?  _ Really _ ?”

Kara shrugged, putting her Seraph Blade away. “Why would I be? I’m not dead.” Kara paused, reaching out to Jason. “Or am I?”

Jason rolled his eyes, more than used to Kara’s antics by now. “When we get back to the Manor , you’re getting looked at.”

“Fine, fine,” Kara waved a hand, beginning to walk out of the alley, Jason following her. “Now, why did you want to meet?”

“Reports of a demon posing as the head of a nightclub, luring mundanes to their deaths,” Jason explained as they walked through the streets, barely paying any notice to those mundanes walking out at night. “Clave wants someone to investigate; we got volunteered.”

“Wonderful, and me without my clubbing gear.”

Jason raised an eyebrow at Kara. “ _ What  _ clubbing gear?”

“Not all of us spend all our time in gear or black sweaters Jason,” she shrugged. “Though I wouldn’t want any demon on my  _ actual  _ clubbing gear, I suppose.”

“Nice to see your priorities are in order.”

“Always. Now, what do we know?”

“The nightclub was always known to blend mundanes and downworlders, but never any deaths.” Kara appreciated the way that, even though he was concerned about her, Jason was able to focus on the task at hand. “Which is why, when deaths started piling up in and around the club, it was suspected that management had changed hands, despite no outward appearances of such.”

“So how do we know it’s a shapeshifting demon?”

“We had someone on the inside.”

Kara raised an eyebrow. “One of Selina’s contacts?”

Jason nodded. “You know it. She’s there now, watching out from the inside.”

“Plan?”

“We go in, cause the demon to panic and attempt to flee, then the three of us capture it.”

“How?”

“Selina has the means.”

“So we’re the distraction?”

The corner of Jason’s mouth turned up in a smirk. “I didn’t think you’d mind.”

Kara wore a matching smirk. “Not at all. Let us go and be  _ amazing  _ distractions.”

  
  


~

 

_ Humo y espejos  _ proclaimed itself to be a “para todas sus necesidades, desde ochenta y siete”,  “venue for all your needs, since 87.” Jason knew that that number referred to  _ eighteen  _ eighty seven, and that the “needs” described in its motto were far from lawful. But they weren’t here to shut the place down, merely to expose its leadership.

Jason and Kara walked past all manner of beings; tonight seemed to be particularly designed to attract the mundanes, with the glamour of the place revealing the “coolest bands” and “best voices this side of the atlantic!” Two minutes, and Jason was already wanting to take a shower.

Kara, sensing his discomfort, bumped his shoulder. “Come on, it’ll be fun.”

“Your sense of fun is disturbing,” Jason observed. 

“I know,” Kara shrugged. “Doesn’t mean I’m wrong.”

They were going to walk in through the front entrance, past the line of mundanes waiting to get into the club. Kara suddenly paused, turning to someone in the line. “Excuse me?”

“You can’t just cut in!” Yelled a random mundane, who was drawing looks from those around her.

“There’s no one there,” her friend, reaching out to hold her arm, tried to calm her, but she didn’t appear calmed at all.

Kara winked at the mundane, waved, and continued on through the door.

“You don’t have to torment them, you know,” Jason muttered, only knowing that Kara could hear him due to the enhanced hearing rune that she had permanently on her neck.

“But it’s so fun,” she pouted at Jason. “Besides, how could she see me?”

“Not a mundane?”

“But then why stand in the mundane line?” Kara shrugged, before wiping her pout from her face. “Mission time. Where to?”

Jason nodded toward the back of the room, where there was clearly a glamour projecting a fake wall. “Through there is the downworlder area.”

“Classy,” Kara muttered, before leading the way through the dancing crowd. 

Kara had always been more comfortable in the mundane world, Jason knew that. She was able to ignore everything going on around her, and focus completely on her objective.

Jason, on the other hand, could not help but be distracted once they went through the “wall”. His eyes were instantly drawn across the room, where a warlock stood entertaining a group of people with a story. He took a step towards the group, almost as though he was compelled to do so.

“Earth to Jason.”

Jason blinked, shaking his head; Kara stood in front of him, waving a hand.

“Huh?”

“You zoned out on me, Jay. I need you; you know where Selina is.”

“Right, mission.” Jason couldn’t help taking one last look at the warlock, who seemed to be looking straight at him. Jason quickly averted his eyes, pointing to the opposite wall. “There. She said to meet her there.”

 

~

 

Kara frowned as she followed Jason across the room. She had seen the way the warlock stared at him, and could only come up with reasons why that was a  _ bad  _ thing. There was no  _ good  _ reason that she could imagine, for a warlock to have been staring so intently at Jason. 

_ Later _ , she promised herself, not for the first time wishing that she had Jason’s ability to focus on the mission at hand. If a warlock had been looking at  _ her  _ like that, she would have been immediately at their throat, demanding an explanation.

Selina was barely recognisable, lounging against the wall and looking out across the room. Rather than customary Shadowhunter gear, she wore a stunning blue dress, which covered her marks, but also left a  _ lot  _ of skin showing. Looking at her, one would easily mistake her for one of the fair folk.

“Looking lovely as always.”

Selina smiled at Kara’s compliment. “Don’t I? Picked it out especially; the glamour is woven into the fabric itself. Though the blonde hair I could live without; no offence.”

Kara agreed with Selina’s assessment. “It definitely doesn’t match your normal hair.”

“If you two don’t mind,” Jason interrupted the pair. “Mission?”

“Brat,” Selina rolled her eyes, but straightened up. “I have arranged a  _ private meeting  _ with Mister Lorn, the manager of the club. Or, the demon  _ pretending  _ to be Mister Lorn, anyway.  Don’t worry; I have also said that I would be bringing my two bodyguards with me, at least to start with. In five minutes, up there.”

Selina pointed to a door, up a flight of stairs.

“Dramatic,” Jason observed.

“Lets him watch everything,” Selina shrugged. “Come on, enjoy yourself. How often do  _ you  _ go out and relax?”

“I can relax once the mission is over,” Jason muttered.

Kara sighed. “Mission this, mission that. You wouldn’t believe he had been  _ distracted  _ when we first went in here.”

“No  _ way _ ,” Selina turned to Kara, seeming very interested in this information. “Tell me everything.”

 

~

 

“I’m sorry, I seem to have lost my place.” 

Roy shook his head; he rarely got distracted while weaving a tale, especially one for which he was getting paid. He felt his eyes drawn to the Shadowhunter, and found himself unable to look away, following their progress with his eyes. 

“Who  _ is  _ that?” He asked of no one in particular, practically under his breath. When his Shadowhunter found a friend, Roy shook his head again, taking a moment to rub at his eyes, before looking on his customers with an apologetic smile.

“Apologies, my friends. Occasionally, I get so swept up in the story, that I completely lose my place. Now, where were we?”

“The lovers had just met,” one of his customers, a werewolf, answered. “Or, you keep  _ referring  _ to them as lovers, though I do not see how they are, given that they haven’t spoken yet.”

“One does not need words to fall in love,” Roy observed to himself, before clapping his eyes. “On with the story, then.”

 

~

 

Jason followed Selina up the stairs, studiously staring at the her shoulders, and  _ not  _ at the warlock in the corner of the room, though Jason could feel the warlock’s eyes on him. It was more than a normal awareness of his surroundings; this was something  _ other _ , though Jason could barely afford to pay any attention to it. He had to focus on playing the part of bodyguard, though how Selina was going to explain having two  _ Shadowhunters  _ as guards, Jason had no clue.

Kara went in first, followed by Selina. Jason turned to make sure nobody was following, saw the warlock back to telling his story, and went into the room.

It was a typical office, clearly meant for nothing more than official business of the mundane variety. The smell of demon on the air was an obvious indicator that the intelligence had been right, and the original Mister Lorn was no longer here.

“You have Shadowhunters as bodyguards?” the demon masquerading as Mister Lorn asked, from where he had stood in front of his couch. He had no guards of his own; clearly, he had not seen through Selina’s glamours.

Selina shrugged one shoulder, taking a step closer to Mister Lorn. “I find them useful. You look nervous Mister Lorn, is there a reason why?”

Indeed, Mister Lorn was looking between the three of them with eyes much too fast for a mundane. “You have tricked me; you mean to kill me!”

“Not quite  _ kill _ ,” Selina raised her hand, holding a Pyxis. Though where she had gotten it from, Jason did not know, nor did he want to know. “The Pyxis isn’t normally used anymore, but we can make an exception for  _ you _ .”

“You  _ can’t _ ” Mister Lorn was slowly beginning to look less human; Jason would describe it as the edges of his form turning to smoke, the way Mister Lorn was reverting to his demon form. “It’s against the law.”

“So is killing mundanes,” Kara stepped forward, Seraph Blade in hand. “Though, I guess you’re going to tell me you have no idea what I’m talking about?”

“Not a clue!” Mister Lorn exclaimed. “I’m-”

Whatever Mister Lorn was going to say was lost when the door to the office opened, revealing a red haired girl, who quickly closed the door behind her.

“I’m sorry, I-  _ are you trying to  _ kill  _ him? _ ”

  
  
  



	2. Et illa resurgemus

Barbara Gordon had lead an uneventful life. She wasn’t the top of her class, nor was she the bottom. She wasn’t classically beautiful, nor was she terrifying to look at. She wasn’t well known, nor was she utterly ignored.

In a word, she was  _ mundane,  _ and she was more than happy to wear that description.

No one gave her a second glance, so no one knew how good she was with computers. No one knew that, in her spare time, she rebuilt devices from the smallest of parts, and sold them to students who otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford them. No one knew that she programmed the school’s website, ensuring that  _ no one  _ could break into it.

Barbara Gordon has a dozen aliases for a dozen different side projects, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

The only person who knew about her skills, was her best friend, Dick Grayson.

He actually  _ encouraged  _ her to pursue these endeavours, believing her to be wasting her potential. 

“You could easily be the top of our classes,” he would tell her every day.

And every day, she would reply, “but we’re graduating in a semester; what’s the point?”

Dick, on the other hand,  _ was  _ extraordinary. He was the sole reason their school  _ had  _ a gymnastics team; he had held the state title for as long as he had been in the state. 

No one even  _ thought  _ of making fun of his name; his reputation as a good guy preceded him. No one messed with Dick, because no one  _ wanted  _ to. 

Their friendship was confusing to more than one person, Barbara knew that. They had been best friends since preschool, when Dick had sat down beside her and declared her his “best friend for forever.”

Nothing would change that; Barbara would  _ never  _ let it change.

Barbara was broken out of her thoughts by a ball of paper hitting her head. She looked over the computer tower that she had been putting together, and frowned. “What was that for?”

“I’ve been talking to you for three minutes and forty seven seconds,” Dick, lying on her bed, replied, waving his phone at her.

Barbara rolled her eyes. “Of  _ course  _ you timed me. Why?”

“Because you never believe me.” Dick rolled over, sitting up on the bed. “I  _ was  _ telling you that you should get changed.”

Barbara frowned; Dick sighed.

“You forgot.”

“What did I forget?”

Dick sighed again; he had probably gone over this during the three minutes and forty seven seconds he had been talking to her for. “ _ Humo y espejos,  _ the invite-only bar, is holding their once a month no invite night? We said we’d go for a month.”

Barbara remembered; now that they were both eighteen, they could enter the exclusive club.  _ Humo,  _ for shorthand, was open to those under twenty one for these special events; any drink purchased at the bar required id, regardless of age, to avoid selling alcohol to minors. Not that Barbara was interested in alcohol; she  _ did  _ want to get a look at what was rumoured to be the most sophisticated firewall in the county.

“We did, yes.” Barbara stood up, putting away her tool set and wiping her hands on her jeans. “Let’s go.”

Dick frowned at her. “No.”

“No?” Barbara raised an eyebrow. “Dick,  _ you  _ are the one wanting to-”

Dick waved a hand at her, jumping to his feet. “Yes, we  _ are  _ going. But first, you need to change.”

 

~~

 

Barbara pulled her jacket tighter across her body. The line for  _ Humo  _ was insanely long; she and Dick had been in it for almost an hour, and were still only halfway there. The bouncer seemed to be letting in large groups at a time, then waiting half an hour before even  _ looking  _ at the next people in line.

“It’s cold,” she muttered, not for the first time.

Dick rolled his eyes, putting an arm around her shoulders. “Hardly, Babs. You’re just annoyed at standing in one spot for so long.”

“True,” she muttered, reaching up to make sure her necklace was still in tact. She called it her Key; a miniaturised flash drive, capable of getting her into  _ any  _ electronic system- well, she had yet to meet one she  _ couldn’t  _ get into, anyway. To the average eye, it looked like a fashionable necklace, barely worth a second glance. Just the way Barbara liked it. As an added bonus, it matched perfectly with her bracelet, a present from her uncle for her sixteenth birthday.

“You don’t think Jim will be too angry, do you?”

Barbara sighed; Jim, her uncle, had not been pleased to hear that she and Dick were going out tonight.

 

~~

 

_ “Please consider staying home _ ,” Jim had asked, seeing Barbara and Dick come down from her room.  _ “I had hoped that you would spend some time with me.” _

_ Barbara had shaken her head. “No, we planned this months ago.” _

_ “I  _ need  _ to speak with you,” Jim said. _

_ “Does this have anything to do with Bruce’s visit?” at Jim’s surprised look, Barbara rolled her eyes. “Not deaf, Uncle Jim. I heard the gruff voice from my room.” _

_ Jim sighed, standing up from the table. Dick had discreetly made himself scarce. “Yes, Barbara, this does have to do with his visit. It’s important.” _

_ “I’m sure that it can wait until I get back,” Barbara went over to kiss Jim’s cheek. “I’ll be fine. See you later.” _

_ She didn’t notice the worried expression on Jim’s face as she left, nor the way he slumped back into his chair. _

 

~~

 

Barbara shook her head. “No; he never stays too angry.”

“Not at you, maybe. Pretty sure he  _ still  _ hasn’t forgiven me for-”   
“Hey!” Barbara turned out of Dick’s arm, staring at a pair of people cutting ahead of the line. The one in front ignored her; the third, a blonde, turned with a puzzled expression. 

“Excuse me?”

“You can’t just cut in!” Barbara wasn’t conscious of the way people were staring at her as though she were mad.

Dick put a hand on her arm. “There’s no one there.”

Barbara shook her head;  _ how can no one see them? _

The blonde winked-  _ winked! _ \- at Barbara, before waving and entering through the door. Not even the bouncer was concerned.

“I can’t believe they were allowed to just waltz in like that.” She turned to Dick, who was looking at her as though she had grown a second head. “What?”

“Barbara, there wasn’t anyone there.”

“Yes there-” Barbara was cut off when the line started moving. She smiled at Dick. “I’ll prove it; when we get inside, I’ll point them out to you. You’ll see.”

 

~~

 

The line cutters couldn’t have entered more than a minute before Barbara did, and yet she could see no sign of them. She turned as she walked, and it was only because of Dick’s guidance that she didn’t bump into anyone. 

“Barbara, please,” Dick sighed, directing her to a table. “How about you sit down for a bit?”

Barbara sat, looking up at Dick. “Going to dance?”

“Always! Will you be alright?”

Barbara waved him away. Dick loved to  _ attempt  _ to dance; for someone so skilled at gymnastics, he was a  _ terrible  _ dancer. But his enthusiasm was something to watch, and Barbara distracted herself for a moment, before movement out of the corner of her eye made her look away.

Her line cutters, plus a third in a  _ mesmerising  _ blue dress, were walking up into the upper offices. They were looking altogether  _ suspicious,  _ and Barbara thought, as she stood up from the table, that the offices were where she would be most likely to be able to access a computer. 

_ What would be the harm in doing a little investigating? _

She slipped through the crowd, everyone ignoring her;  _ just another face in the crowd.  _ Tapping her necklace for good luck, she walked up the staircase towards the upper offices. 

The door was locked; unsurprised, Barbara unclipped her bracelet, revealing a lock pick.  _ Thank you Uncle Jim.  _  The lock was quickly disposed of, and Barbara entered the room, closing the door behind her. 

“I’m sorry, I-” Barbara cut herself off as she turned around, quickly assessing the room. “ _ Are you trying to  _ kill  _ him? _ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again.  
> I'm aiming to post a new chapter each Monday (AEST).  
> Thank you for reading, and see you next week!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading. :D


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